The present invention relates to a connector having a plurality of contacts with different contact timings.
There has been a type of connector, for example, for a personal computer, which has a plurality of contacts whose contact timings relative to corresponding contacts of a counterpart connector are staggered, for example, between those contacts for some particular purpose and the others, for example, between contacts for confirming attachment relative to the counterpart contacts and contacts for signals.
For staggering the contact timings, there have been proposed connectors of various structures.
In one example, a plurality of contacts whose terminal portions have different lengths are arranged substantially at the same positions in attaching/detaching directions of the contacts relative to counterpart contacts. In this case, the terminal portions are offset in position among the contacts in the attaching/detaching directions. This causes the contact timings to be staggered from each other.
In another example, while terminal portions of contacts have the same lengths, the contacts themselves are offset in position in the attaching/detaching directions so as to stagger the contact timings.
However, as will be described in detail using a figure, either of the foregoing examples has problems of unstable contact timings relative to the counterpart contacts and size enlargement of the connector.